■ Salaries
Workers get huge bonuses
Thai corporate executives and their staff stand to gain handsomely from the kingdom's stellar economic performance, with year-end bonuses of up to 24 months' salary, a report said yesterday. Securities firms topped the charts with bonuses ranging from 12 to 24 months' pay as they reap huge profits this year fueled by the Thai stock market's eye-popping 103-percent surge this year. A Nation newspaper survey compiled from "unofficial company announcements" placed Phatra Securities head and shoulders above the rest with bonuses of 18 to 24 months' salary, followed closely by ABN Amro Asia Securities with 12 to 15 months' pay and two other securities houses at 12 months each. Property firm Land & Houses, capitalizing on a feverish Thai property boom this year, was expected to award eight-month bonuses, it said.
■ Telecoms
AT&T freezes pay increases
AT&T Corp, the largest US long-distance telephone company, will delay pay increases for managers until at least April 2005 as the company tries to pare costs and reverse sales declines, chief executive officer David Dorman said in a memo to employees. "The past year hasn't been easy," Dorman said in the memo, distributed to workers on Dec. 19. "As I've said before, `business as usual' is no longer an option for companies in an environment where complacency is severely punished." Sales at AT&T have fallen for 15 straight quarters year-over-year. Dorman is predicting a 6 percent slide in this year's sales of phone and data services to corporations, the company's biggest business. AT&T has said total revenue this year will fall less than 10 percent. The company is eliminating 8,520 jobs, about 12 percent of its workforce, this year.
■ Electronics
Japanese sales decline
Japanese consumer electronics shipments fell for the first time in six months last month, pressured by sales declines of audio products such as mini-disc players and stereos, an industry group said. Sales of TVs, digital video cameras, DVD players and other consumer electronics products fell 0.3 percent from a year ago to ?201.9 billion (US$1.9 billion), the Japan Electronics and Information Technology Industries Association said. Shipments of audio products, which have been falling from the same month a year earlier since March 2000, declined 16 percent. A slowing of shipment rises for video-related products and car-installed equipment also contributed to the decline.
■ Internet crime
Fake Web site uncovered
DBS Bank (Hong Kong) Ltd has warned its customers about a fraudulent Internet site operating under the bank's name, and officials said Thursday they were seeking help abroad to shut it down. The Web site, www.dbshk.net , uses the bank's logo and claims to be a subsidiary of Singapore-based DBS Group Holdings Ltd. It also asks customers to enter their bank account details. DBS Bank (Hong Kong) Ltd, however, said in a statement that the Web site "has no affiliation whatsoever with DBS Bank, nor the Group." Hong Kong's police and de facto central bank were seeking help from their foreign counterparts to shut down the bogus Web site, police spokeswoman Polly Ko said. She declined to give further details. Ko said no customers have reported falling victim to the scam.
‘UPHOLDING PEACE’: Taiwan’s foreign minister thanked the US Congress for using a ‘creative and effective way’ to deter Chinese military aggression toward the nation The US House of Representatives on Monday passed the Taiwan Conflict Deterrence Act, aimed at deterring Chinese aggression toward Taiwan by threatening to publish information about Chinese Communist Party (CCP) officials’ “illicit” financial assets if Beijing were to attack. The act would also “restrict financial services for certain immediate family of such officials,” the text of the legislation says. The bill was introduced in January last year by US representatives French Hill and Brad Sherman. After remarks from several members, it passed unanimously. “If China chooses to attack the free people of Taiwan, [the bill] requires the Treasury secretary to publish the illicit
NO HUMAN ERROR: After the incident, the Coast Guard Administration said it would obtain uncrewed aerial vehicles and vessels to boost its detection capacity Authorities would improve border control to prevent unlawful entry into Taiwan’s waters and safeguard national security, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday after a Chinese man reached the nation’s coast on an inflatable boat, saying he “defected to freedom.” The man was found on a rubber boat when he was about to set foot on Taiwan at the estuary of Houkeng River (後坑溪) near Taiping Borough (太平) in New Taipei City’s Linkou District (林口), authorities said. The Coast Guard Administration’s (CGA) northern branch said it received a report at 6:30am yesterday morning from the New Taipei City Fire Department about a
A senior US military official yesterday warned his Chinese counterpart against Beijing’s “dangerous” moves in the South China Sea during the first talks of their kind between the commanders. Washington and Beijing remain at odds on issues from trade to the status of Taiwan and China’s increasingly assertive approach in disputed maritime regions, but they have sought to re-establish regular military-to-military talks in a bid to prevent flashpoint disputes from spinning out of control. Samuel Paparo, commander of the US Indo-Pacific Command, and Wu Yanan (吳亞男), head of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Southern Theater Command, talked via videoconference. Paparo “underscored the importance
IN BEIJING’S FAVOR: A China Coast Guard spokesperson said that the Chinese maritime police would continue to carry out law enforcement activities in waters it claims The Philippines withdrew its coast guard vessel from a South China Sea shoal that has recently been at the center of tensions with Beijing. BRP Teresa Magbanua “was compelled to return to port” from Sabina Shoal (Xianbin Shoal, 仙濱暗沙) due to bad weather, depleted supplies and the need to evacuate personnel requiring medical care, the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) spokesman Jay Tarriela said yesterday in a post on X. The Philippine vessel “will be in tiptop shape to resume her mission” after it has been resupplied and repaired, Philippine Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin, who heads the nation’s maritime council, said
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